pekeana

Lalalala, I am a sheep... posting to old topics and all. Seriously, though, Yemaya has a very strong salt water aquatic note along with the hyper-fruity watermelon.

In the vial -- I can tell this is floral and spice, and I smell a touch of vetiver down at the very bottom. On me -- HIGH JOHN!!! Ohmigod, there's High John essence in this, I swear it! I get the bright, sharp happy tang of High John, over a touch of vetiver, and a sweet slap of something lemony. However, it is very soapy -- herbal soap with a touch of lemon. But daaaamn, is it lovely.

In the vial, this is very much dark and dank, but with a strangely uplifting sharpness that sticks out. On me, at first, it's all dark, deep vetiver with a slap of pepper. But as time goes on, it brings up a lovely, dusty and warm scent -- still lots of vetiver and a lot of pepper, but it's very dusty and lovely. And, holy crap -- when I sniff it directly, it reminds me of some ancient tea leaves that were in a container my dad brought home with him from his trip this weekend... But when I'm not sniffing it directly, I smell dusty old books with just a touch of mold and mildew. But it's subtle. Either way, I love this, and it's a total walk away from my usual happy scents. But, nonetheless, delightful.

In the vial, all I smelled is floral with a tang I couldn't identify. On me, it's all magnolia with just a touch of orange. It's not outstanding, but it's definitely going to get another shot. All in all, this is a slightly different version of Sacred Whore of Babylon for me, but Sacred Whore seems to work a little better with the creamy undertone. Magnolia likes to choke everything else in a blend once it hits my skin.

In the vial, Decadence is all almond-cherry-orange & spice to my nose. Maybe a touch of something liquor? On me, all I get it almondy-orange spice with a twist of rum. I like this, but it's not outstanding in every way to make me squeal in delight like a little twerp and clamor for a bottle. However, it's far from being unpleasant.

Scherezade is a good spicy musk -- but a lot of people think it smells incensey. Dragon's Heart is another good resin/musk combination. Forbidden Fruit might be another good one to try.

Yup, the Tarot scents are avaliable as impies. [Thank goodness, too!]

I second The Unicorn, and I raise you a Pele, and a Veil.

Whoops -- almost forgot! All of the Solar Oils seem to have a frankincense and amber base.

I'm not sure about any of your other loves, but I've tested some of the BPALs you listed... You might like to try the following BPALs: Snake Oil Magus Xiuhtecuhtli Bastet Greed The Coiled Serpent Dragon's Bone

Midwinter's Eve and Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo share a similar fruit note -- I'm not sure which note it is, but it seems to like me, whatever it is. [Joy Mojo also reminds me of MMU's Pomegranate scent, but that's neither here nor there.]

The Star is what B&BW's Coconut Lime Verbena wishes it could be. It's CLBx10, with a kick of mint and a twist of boo-yah.

Skadi is kind of similar to Hemlock with the piney bit. Dia de los Muertos is very similar to Kali. And Nanshe kind of reminds me of June Gloom -- I say kind of, because it's only a passing resemblance at best.

Since this is a completely different batch of Zephyr, I'm going to review it separately from the bottle I tried before. This batch of Zephyr is much softer and mellower in the vial than the sharp, stinging bottle I tried before. It's more fully-rounded, and sweeter with the vanilla + musk aspect. On me, it's a deeper, more sophisticated scent than the bottle had been. I get a lot more of the musk and vanilla, but it's slightly powdery instead of blastingly sharp and acrid. I much prefer this batch of Zephyr, but I don't like it enough to want more, though I'll finish off this imp or throw it into the "share nicely with the other kiddies" pile.

Phantom Queen, for me, is a pretty standard, but not overwhemlingly anything fruity floral. It's nice enough, and lasts a long time with minimal changes, but it's just not anything but a standard BPAL floral to me.

Zombi is all dirt for me, both in the vial and on my skin. It's dark, loamy, and would be perfect if I was a loving, adoring gardener. However, I am not, and there's definitely the moldy side of earth in Zombi, and it triggered a spastic sneezing fit. And Zombi is now in the pile of imps that didn't work.

I really love Siren -- it's very similar to Sudha Segara, only without the milk + honey notes that made my bottle of Sudha Segara go sour and rancid on me. In the vial, Siren is all ginger and sharp, sharp jasmine, but once on my skin, it's a sweet, mellow spice with a hint of fruit. It's very well-rounded, and doesn't take very long to dry down and beautify on my skin, unlike some of the other BPAL blends.

WTF. In the vial, Vice is all green chocolate. Like chocolate in the middle of a garden, absorbing all of the greenery. On me, it's indescribably... there is no sweet. It's all orange blossom and bitter, sickening chocolate with a twinge of cherry. It smells disgusting to me -- I'm not insulting Beth's skills as a perfumer here, but my skin just makes this absolutely retch-worthy, and I'm going to go wash it off now.

It should be said that sandalwood and I usually don't get along very well... as evidenced in this blend. At first, I get a lot of Nefertiti's bright, brilliant happy greenness, all herbal and clean and brilliant... And if it had stayed that way, it would be wonderful! But, alas, my skin amps the hell out of the sandalwood, and I can almost swear that there's a touch of patchouli in here somewhere, too, because I can smell something similar to patchouli around the edges of the sandalwood, and it's been making me gag for the last hour and a half since it dried down completely. I love the early stages, but the drydown is just totally not me.

Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo is definitely a bottle purchase for me. In the vial, it's all sickly sweet bubblegum and candy like Jailbait, only not quite as intense. On me, it's just happy, soft, fruity sweetness with just a touch of the vetiver base that seems to accompany most of the voodoo oils. I can tell the vetiver is there, but it doesn't bother me because the rest of it is just so happy. After a while, my skin starts sucking away the sweetness, but it's still a lovely, soft fruity scent without being overly intense or foody. It's not inspiring joy all-abounding from me, but it is making me smile a little bit, and I do think I could wear this to work and feel not so stressed as I usually do.

Definitely Kali -- they have a similar sweet wine/chocolate + floral scent.

Hmmm.... Black Cat seems to be minty floral in the vial. On me, though, there's juniper, rose, and herbs -- at times, I smell like a dill pickle, at other times, I smell like a rose. Other times, it's all juniper. And, y'know, it's pleasant enough and inobtrusive, but the dill pickle aura makes me go "buwah?" and into the swap pile it goes.

Amber doesn't usually work with me, and black musk is hit or miss, because they both go extremely powdery, but there's something in Haunted that keeps it from going overwhelmingly powdery. Whatever the mystery ingredient is, it has a lemony tinge to it and is extremely sweet -- it smells kind of like hyper-sweet lemonade. I rather like it, but I'm not sure if it'll go powdery or not.

Eeeeee, frankincense! Sol is all about the frankincense, with a touch of lemongrass and a splash of sweet musk of some kind. It's a very warm, bright oil, and dare I say that it even scorched a little when it went on my skin. It's still stinging a bit, but it's not a painful kind of sting -- more like the slight annoyance of knowing that you're getting sunburnt but there's nothing you can do about it, even though you feel your skin warming up beneath the scorching of the upper layer. Very apt interpretation of Sol, indeed -- and I love it and shall cherish the imp, for it's really quite lovely.

The essence of holy Kyphi, beloved incense of the Egyptian Gods. In the vial, I can't distinguish any notes -- it's sweet, but resinous, and yet, rather soft and flat. On me, I get a lot of lemongrass and a lot of frankincense, with a touch of deep, dark myrrh, and a little dusty and powdery amber, but that unidentifiable sweetness is still there, rounding it all out. I also smell smoke above all the rest, lending it a slight acridity. It kind of makes me go "huh?" because I'm not sure if I like it or not.